From the Fields: Making hay while the sun shines

By Kristin Kveno
The Land Staff Writer

July 18, 2008 03:17 am

— While most people were enjoying the parades, picnics and fireworks that are the 4th of July, Dale Mischke was baling hay. Actually, he had been “baling for five days straight,” Mischke said, when The Land talked to him on July 6.
“The hay crop has been excellent,” he said. Mischke estimated there is 10 to 20 percent more hay than last year. Even the corn and beans are really starting to grow. “Corn is waist high and beans are six to 10 inches high.”
With only 2 1/2 to 3 inches of precipitation at the Mischke farm during the month of June, he said they “could use a shot of rain.”
Although Mischke missed the 4th of July activities, he has been busy participating in other parades around the area. Currently a member of the Corn and Soybean Growers Association for Cottonwood County, Mischke and his family have walked in a couple parades.
Besides baling, Mischke had been “hauling a lot of grain to town.” Beans and corn have all been sprayed and the rock-picking crew — consisting of the Mischke kids — is done with that particular job for the season.
Mischke also has been checking the cattle futures and recently locked in cattle prices. In about two weeks he will begin second cutting hay and mowing hay ditches.
Mischke reported some tough news for residents of Westbrook. The town’s only grocery store, Maynard’s, burned to the ground on July 5. With the closest large grocery store now 30 miles away, Westbrook residents including Mischke are anxious to hear whether the grocery store will be re-built. “You don’t know how bad you miss it until it’s gone,” he said.
Mischke’s oldest daughter, Alex, is now a certified lifeguard at the Westbrook pool; she told her Dad that being a lifeguard is a much better job than picking rocks. Daughter Cassidy has been busy playing summer recreation baseball, so the Mischke family has been taking in some games. Son Ethan loves nothing better than to sit in the tractor with Dad. This little 5-year-old enjoys “talking a mile a minute and asking questions.”
Summer is a busy time, and the life on the Mischke farm is no exception.

Copyright © 1999-2008 cnhi, inc.